


Even when the door is opened

by Brilliant_But_Scary_Bad_Wolf



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies), Mad Max: Fury Road
Genre: Cheedo is the youngest but has been there the longest, Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Gen, Incest, Miscarriage, as told by Cheedo, but it is not explicit, domestic abuse, pre-Fury Road, the sexual assault is present
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-19
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-10 02:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4373477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brilliant_But_Scary_Bad_Wolf/pseuds/Brilliant_But_Scary_Bad_Wolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"She does not understand why they are so upset (to be Joe’s wife is a high honor, and comes with privileges not available to others)."</p><p>Covering Cheedo's backstory from youth up to the start of the film.  She may be the youngest wife, but she has lived in the Citadel the longest; been destined to be Joe's wife her entire life.  This story is very much about domestic violence.  Subtle hints of future Cheedo/Dag.  Tags will be added as needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this story for a lot of reasons. The first of which, of course, is that Mad Max: Fury Road is a gift, and that I am in love with Cheedo. Platonically, of course, she is a child. But yes she is wonderful and there is not enough fic about her so here we are. 
> 
> The second reason I wrote this though, is more important. Because while Fury Road was quite possibly the best action movie I have ever seen, the infamous Furiosa comic book that was published as a companion appeared to be trying very hard to undo much of what was great about Fury Road, in a lot of ways. The part that bugged me the most, however, is the things that were said or suggested about Cheedo in her backstory. It seems horrible to say that I prefer a backstory in which a fourteen year old girl was in fact abused by her husband, rather than not, as the comic suggests, but it's important to me for several reasons.
> 
> It took me a couple of showings to really understand and love Cheedo in the movie, but what really struck me is how much like a domestic violence survivor she behaved. Both in how she tried to go back after Angharad, the one person who constantly told her she was worthwhile, and gave her hope, was taken from her, as well as in how she courageously worked past that fear to trick one of her abusers. As someone who works with DV survivors, and sees women (and men) behave in the way Cheedo did, it was wonderful to see her portrayed that way on screen without anyone ever blaming her or judging her for trying to go back.
> 
> The fact of the matter is, survivors of domestic violence have usually been in this terrible situation for so long that they are used to the violence. It's all they know, and as horrible as it is, it is much less terrifying than anything they haven't experienced, and especially, much less terrifying than leaving their abuser (seriously, we don't see it, but the women's decision to leave Joe was incredibly, incredibly brave). So yes, these traits are all extremely indicative of a person in a DV situation. 
> 
> What would not explain Cheedo's actions, incidentally, is exactly the situation provided in the comic (that she has never been abused by Joe like the others have, and that she likes the privileges associated with the position and somehow doesn't realize the terrible aspects of it). Frankly, I find that horribly degrading and offensive. Cheedo is young and vulnerable and scared, but she's not stupid. So yeah. It pissed me off. So I wrote this. I did my best not to be explicit, but trigger warnings for abuse, violence, sexual assault and rape, as well as all these things with the involvement of a child. 
> 
> Also, while I ship Dag and Cheedo in the future, Cheedo is 14 years old during the events of Fury Road, and even younger in this fic, so for now, close friendship it is! The fic will most likely have 3 chapters and an epilogue, but I am still writing, and I love writing in this universe a lot, so who knows?! It may even go past the start of MMFR, we shall see.
> 
> This story is dedicated to all those who have been in domestic abuse relationships; both those who made it out, and those who did not, their courage in equal measure.

Cheedo doesn’t have a mother. Of course, she knows that’s not really true. As Toast reminds her, everyone has a mother. And a father. So she must have had them at some time, but she doesn’t remember ever having them. The Citadel is her mother and father both, for it’s all she knows. She grew up around Milking Mothers and War Boys; the Organic Mechanic, and eventually, the other wives. And Joe. Joe whose lap she sits on as he strokes her hair and tells her how good she is, what an excellent wife she’ll make once she’s bled. He doesn’t touch her then; she is not breedable, at only nine, though some days she wishes she were. Toast tells her that’s idiotic, that she ought to keep from bleeding as long as she can, but Toast is new to the Citadel. She doesn’t understand what it means, to be Joe’s wife. Or at least that’s what Cheedo tells herself.

On dark nights, she can hear Toast and the other wives; Blissful, Seren the Lithe, Capable, and Greer the Melodic, sobbing, piled together on their beds (Cheedo is welcome, she knows, but she is only a girl, and does not understand why they are so upset (to be Joe’s wife is a high honor, and comes with privileges not available to others)). It’s on these nights that she thinks of her mother, curled up alone on her small mattress as she is. Cheedo might be stupid, but she suspects; knows Toast does too. Her mother was one of Joe’s wives, before. She must have been. That’s the only reason Joe would’ve let Cheedo live outside of the Vault in her early years, which means that now her mother is dead. Or a Milking Mother. Perhaps Cheedo has met her. Not that it matters. She wouldn’t know her if she saw her.

She keeps it out of her mind. It doesn’t matter who her mother was. Joe doesn’t like her to think about it, and Cheedo doesn’t much like it either. When she’s not thinking of her mother, life in the Citadel is good, as long as she keeps from focusing too much on what Joe does with the other wives. Not to them. It’s easier that way, to believe that they’re active participants, and they too, shield her from it. She can see how it makes Toast angry, sometimes, how Cheedo keeps from seeing it all for what it is. Still, Toast is her closest friend, and closest to her in age, though the older girl is sixteen.

But really, the situation _isn’t_ that bad, she thinks. Joe hurts her sometimes, true, and she doesn’t like the feel of his hands in her hair, or the way he feels and moves when she sits on his lap, but the bruises he leaves are nothing. He doesn’t touch her like he does the other wives, and here, Cheedo never wants for anything. She has enough to eat and drink (the food is actually good, sometimes). The air is cool, inside the Vault, with cozy lounges and beds and piles of books – she even knows how to read! Cheedo has never been outside the Citadel, but she knows that out there, people starve. They die of thirst and heat and worse things. Here, she may have to suffer bruises from Joe’s rages, the sting of his belt around her, and the cries of his other wives, but here, it is what she knows, and she takes comfort in that. Here, she is safe.

____________________________________________________________

 

Months before Cheedo turns eleven, Seren gives birth to a baby girl. It is not her first daughter, and after the birth, both mother and infant are gone. She doesn’t know where Seren goes (to the Milking Mothers, perhaps), but she wonders if the baby girl will be like her, raised in the Citadel with an important destiny ahead of her. The day of her eleventh birthday, Capable insures the wives celebrate together, and Joe honors it with a visit to the Organic Mechanic to see if she has bled yet. He hits her in anger when he sees she has not. The very next day, they are joined by a new woman; a new wife. She is pale and tall and wild and the most beautiful person Cheedo has ever seen. She is only eight years older than Cheedo, and many of her words do not make sense (she was found outside, wandering the wasteland, and while her beauty is intact, the others say her mind is not). Cheedo thinks they’re wrong. Just because they don’t understand her doesn’t mean she is mad.

The new woman is called the Dag, and she is given the bed that was once occupied by Seren the Lithe, next to Cheedo’s. The younger girl finds herself dreaming that her mother had been like Dag. She knows it is impossible. Cheedo is small and tame and fragile, with dark hair and dark eyes and dark skin. She is the opposite of Dag, and her light. And if Joe really is . . . Cheedo’s mother would’ve been closer in looks to Toast than she would have to Dag. She is not her mother, but she is her friend. The Dag doesn’t treat her like a child the way the others do, and even when the blonde tries to explain to Cheedo that what’s happening here is wrong, that Joe is just a schlanger, she doesn’t treat the girl like she’s stupid. Cheedo knows she is – Joe tells her often enough, in between his violence and his praises – and she doesn’t blame the others for the looks they (even Capable) sometimes send her way, but it’s nice to be treated that way. She selfishly hopes that Dag never leaves. Hopes that the newest wife gives Joe a son, keeping her in his praises, and in Cheedo’s vicinity.

The same year that the Dag arrives, Blissful dies in childbirth, Capable gives birth to a malformed son, and Toast has her first miscarriage. When Joe beats Toast, the rage filling the Vault, Cheedo squeezes her eyes shut tight, and hides behind Dag. Her mind blocks out the other woman’s cries, and listens only to the voice of the woman laying beside her, singing a nonsensical tune softly. After, Joe tells Cheedo to come sit on his lap, and she does so without hesitation, though Dag tries to pull her back. She trembles violently as she steps over Toast, bleeding on the floor at his feet, and slips onto his lap to sit sideways, her gaze intent on the floor where Toast is not. Her legs are pressed tightly together, her shoulders slumped, hands grasping each other in her lap, and her head down. 

Fragile and submissive. 

It is how he prefers her to be, but it must make him angry, because he yanks hard on her hair so that her head pulls back, her face pointed in the air. His mouth crashes into hers, hard and rough, at the same time that his free hand reaches under her top to grope at her chest. This is what she has been waiting for, what she is meant for, but this knowledge does nothing to stop the painful feeling in her stomach at the touch, and the relief she feels when Capable’s voice rings out, solid and clear despite her recent birth. 

“She has not bled yet!”

The redhead is still seated, looking unwell, but Greer and Toast are also both glaring at Joe from their places on the ground, and she can see Dag standing, her fists closed with that wildness and rage. Joe pushes her off his lap and leaves. “I-I’m sorry,” she calls out after him, but he’s already gone. Cheedo huddles on the floor, and repeats the words, this time whispering, “I’m sorry,” in Toast’s direction. Then she feels the Dag’s arms tight around her. Capable, Greer, and Miss Giddy all go to Toast, helping her to the bed, and tending to her injuries before cuddling around her. Dag leaves to pull the remaining beds next to Toast’s, and Cheedo shivers until the older woman returns to pull the girl over to join the mass cuddle. She is reluctant, at first – why would Toast want her there, useless, stupid traitor that she was? But it’s clear she was wrong, because after several moments, the injured teen wraps her arms around Cheedo too, overlapping the Dag’s.

_______________________________________________________

 

Cheedo is twelve when Angharad comes. Splendid Angharad, whom everyone loves. Even Cheedo, though she is made uncomfortable by the older woman’s boldness and confidence, by her insistence that Joe is Bad and “they are not things.” Cheedo wants to ask Angharad how Joe can be Bad when he takes care of them, gives them things; Aqua Cola and food and books and warmth and comfort, but she knows it is a stupid question. She also wants to ask what Angharad means when she says that “we are not things,” but she is too scared to ask. It doesn’t make sense.

With the arrival of Splendid comes her bleeding. It is Angharad’s idea to hide it, and though Cheedo wants to refuse, the thought of lying to Joe sitting painfully in her stomach, she remembers all to clearly how she had felt that day he’d touched her. All it takes is a nod from her for Dag to stand, working with Angharad and Toast to switch her sheets with Dag’s, and for Capable and Greer to take her aside and explain how the bleeding goes, and give her some rags to use. After, Dag makes her some tea to calm her and settle the pain, and its only then that she realizes how panicked she had been. She sits amongst them as she deinks the tea, listening to Dag’s soft singing, and the ruffle of turning pages in Toast and Angharad’s books, and thinks how grateful she is to have her sisters. 

That is what they are, Angharad says. Not wives. Cheedo isn’t so sure, but she likes the sound of it, and she thinks she could be both wife to Joe and sister to the others. 

That night, when Joe comes, he doesn’t pick Cheedo. He doesn’t pick Dag either, upon seeing the blood on her sheets. Cheedo cries as she hears him with Angharad, but after, they all lay together, once she has made Splendid some tea of her own.

_______________________________________________________________________

 

The Organic Mechanic examines each of them twice a year. More often when they are pregnant, as Dag and Toast are now. Cheedo’s semi-annual exam comes the day of her thirteenth birthday. Her monthly bleeding too, has come, and the girl can do nothing but cry as the Mechanic examines her. Somehow, he can tell that this is not her first bleeding, and when Joe comes to the Vault, he comes early. He lines them all up on the wall, and tells them why he’s here. Then he pulls Greer from the line. Cheedo whimpers. Greer is older than the rest of them, has been here the longest, and failed to provide a viable heir, and the new teenager fears what Joe will do to her in his rage. She is right to fear. He beats her violently, and even given the reasons he had chosen Greer, Cheedo knows she is responsible. She should not have let them hide her bleeding from Joe. She knows they were hiding it to protect her, and when Greer stops breathing, she knows she as good as killed her. Tears roll down her face, but she says nothing. Cheedo is Fragile. She is weak and she is a coward; stupid and helpless.

She knows this because he takes her right next to the body, and she does nothing but cry, even as the others scream and wail and try to pull him off of her. He seems to tire of their resistance, for after he pushes Dag away for the third time, he pulls Cheedo to her feet, and leads her out of the vault. She waits silently while he locks it, and then follows him demurely through the halls, tears trailing down her cheeks. This is what she is meant to do. Who she is meant to be. They reach what she assumes are his chambers, and she follows him inside. The girl fights to keep from reacting to the stench, and quickly removes what is left of her clothing, climbing up on the bed to kneel. This is what she is meant to be. She knows it is. It is an honor. What she doesn’t know is why it feels so wrong, and why Angharad’s “we are not things” keeps running through her head when she doesn’t even understand it.

When he brings her back to the Vault, Greer’s body is gone, the blood washed away like she was never there in the first place. The women help Cheedo clean up, bathing her gently and rubbing cream on her bruises. She is living the role she was meant for, finally, and yet everything has changed, and not for the better. She doesn’t notice the look in Splendid’s eyes as they all huddle together on the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Learned Helplessness  
> by Anonymous
> 
> They say  
> These clever scientist folks,  
> That there is such a thing  
> As learned helplessness;  
> Cage a rat  
> Subject it  
> To repeated trauma  
> Until it is so tired of fighting  
> It will lie in the corner  
> And take the pain
> 
> Not leaving  
> Even when the door is opened
> 
> I know this to be true  
> This has been me  
> Cowering  
> In the corner  
> Begging  
> With imploring eyes  
> For you to shut the door  
> And stop confronting me
> 
> With impossible choices
> 
> ______________________________________________
> 
>    
> Power and Control Wheel Domestic Violence Resource: http://www.ncdsv.org/images/powercontrolwheelnoshading.pdf
> 
> http://www.thehotline.org/ -- 1-800-799-7233 | 1-800-787-3224 (TTY) (US National Hotline)
> 
> Find your local domestic violence agency/crisis center/shelter: https://www.domesticshelters.org/  
> 


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Immortan Joe is glorious. He is the reason they have Aqua Cola, a place to sleep, life even. He is a god, and he is her husband. And she hates him." 
> 
> Life progresses in the Vault of the Citadel, and Cheedo and the others meet a rather curious Imperator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't post this as fast as I had hoped, sorry, but work has kept me busy! I've also been busy re-watching Fury Road, so there's that. Anyways, onwards!
> 
> Serious Trigger Warning for non-graphic Rape, Sexual Assault, and Abuse, including of a child. Take care of yourself first and foremost!!

Immortan Joe is glorious. He is the reason they have Aqua Cola, a place to sleep, life even. He is a god, and he is her husband. And she hates him. He is her savior and she is his wife and she hates him. It hurts her on the inside and in her head to feel this way, but he hurts her more. Mostly on the outside, but inside, too. Even worse, he hurts the others as well. He hurts Dag, though he hasn’t touched her since she had become pregnant. Toast either. Still, he hurts her more than the rest of them, usually, and she knows he hurts Capable and Angharad, though they hide it the best. And she knows he will go back to hurting Toast and Dag after they have their babies. It all clashes with her worldview, so she tries not to think about it. Tries not to think about how she hates Joe, and how she’s not supposed to. She tries even harder not to think about how he hurts her, and how he hurts Angharad and Capable when they try to keep him from her. Dag tries too, but he doesn’t hurt her if he can help it; she’s carrying his precious heir.

Cheedo knows she doesn’t want to. Dag hates the thing inside her, and is glad to see the malformed baby boy go when Joe takes him from her. Cheedo cries anyways. None of it is fair to Dag, but it isn’t fair to the baby boy either, blind in one eye as he is. Better to be him than a daughter though, she supposes. Capable agrees, and they both fear that one day, Cheedo might see a little girl with bright red hair like Capable’s in the Vault.

Toast miscarries again three weeks later. By now Angharad is pregnant, so this time after he beats Toast, he takes Dag and Cheedo both, caring little that the blonde is still recovering from her pregnancy. Cheedo is not capable of anger at the Immortan, but if she was, it would have been this that would’ve driven her to rage. Instead she sobs, clinging fearfully to Dag when she can, and trying to quiet Joe’s anger with obedience and subservience. The two things she best at. It doesn’t work. She knows he wants Angharad, but he doesn’t dare risk hurting the babe inside her.

Once things settle down, it’s hard not to think about the fact that Toast has had two miscarriages now. Even worse, both were deformed girls, and her feisty, angry nature had already made her Joe’s least favorite. Cheedo doesn’t want to think about what would happen if Toast had a third miscarriage, so she doesn’t. The others do though, but she mostly ignores their grim whispers, cuddling up against Dag and Capable while she watches Angharad rub her still flat belly and speak confidently. Her mind drifts, and she thinks she fears nothing more than getting pregnant. Except Joe. Rictus scares her too (many things do). She doesn’t like when Joe brings his son with him, or the way the huge man looks at her as if he wants to break her (as if Joe doesn’t already). They both know he can. She is Cheedo the Fragile. She is not Splendid or Capable or Knowing or Strong. She doesn’t know why her husband brings Rictus – the man doesn’t have a key to their belts, and Joe doesn’t seem the type to share, but she doesn’t say anything about it, instead keeping her eyes down as she feels his eyes on her.

 

* * *

 

On long days, they sometimes sit by the open glass dome, and peer out at War Boys and Wretched below in the world outside. Cheedo does it less than the others because she has never been outside the Citadel, and the outside terrifies her. Still, when she gets bored enough, it can be nice. Currently, it is only Dag that sits by the windows, and she sits with her head leaning on it, her arms wrapped loosely around her knees. Angharad is talking to Miss Giddy, about what, Cheedo doesn’t know. Toast is on the other side of the room, reading a book that’s long and dry. Cheedo had tried reading it once, but she’d gotten only a chapter in before Joe had laughed at her. She hasn’t picked it up since. Now she sits at Capable’s feet, watching Dag as the redhead braids her hair.

“This one’s not a sheep!”

Dag’s voice rings out unexpectedly, and they all look up at her. Toast puts her book down, and stands over next to Dag to look out. “You mean that war boy?” she asks, “the Imperator?” Dag shakes her head. “Not a sheep. A woman.” Angharad turns away from Miss Giddy and sits next to Dag at the window. Capable goes too, so Cheedo follows, lingering behind the others. “What’s a woman doing as an Imperator?” Angharad voices the question they’re all wondering. Well, maybe not Dag. But most of the Immortan’s generals are War Boys, and she had thought all of them were men. Peeking over the others’ shoulders, Cheedo can understand Toast’s confusion.

The woman is near bald, like the War Boys are, with long pants and utility belts and the dark smear on her forehead. But she does have hair, if only a little. Cheedo supposes Dag must see more; the shapes of the strange woman’s body, how she moves and more. There’s a glint of metal where her left arm should be, and Cheedo realizes with a sudden chill that the metal is the woman’s arm. Yet another reason to never go outside. The woman herself looks fierce and terrifying, and Cheedo backs away from the window, not understanding. Women have few purposes in the Citadel. They are breeders and they are milkers. They are not warriors. How did this woman get to where she is? More importantly, why would she fight for Joe? Does she not know? The teen decides it doesn’t matter, and goes back to sit on the floor, curling her legs underneath her and watching the others quietly discuss the Imperator.

When the Immortan comes in several hours later, she hasn’t moved. And she doesn’t plan to, until her husband is followed by someone else. It is the woman, the Imperator, back from wherever she had gone. This woman scares Cheedo even more than Joe does, and the girl jumps to her feet, grasping for Angharad, who is nearest to her, and pulling herself so she is hiding behind the blonde, peering around the side of her shoulder. “Treasures,” he greets them, “Splendid. I have brought you gifts.” He motions to the woman, who carries an ornate wooden box, and quickly sets it on the sole table in the room. In her own discomfort, Cheedo doesn’t notice how uncomfortable the woman herself looks, instead squirming under the Imperator’s gaze when Angharad goes to examine the box, leaving the teen standing awkward and alone.

Finally the Dag’s hand grasps hers, and she relaxes enough to look back at the newcomer, who has moved her gaze to Angharad. The oldest and newest wife has opened the box, and appears to be looking through it. She is holding a strange tube, and a small container of some kind of powder. Capable gets to her feet, and walks over in wonder, grabbing the powdery stuff. “Rouge,” she whispers breathily, “I haven’t seen this in . . . I don’t know.” Cheedo doesn’t know what rouge is, or what the tube-thing is, so she just looks nervously at Joe, but he is smiling. “To keep my treasures pretty,” he says, as if that explains everything. He instructs that they are to wear it every night for him, and that if they run out, the Imperator, whom he calls Furiosa, will fetch more for them.

Then he takes the rouge-thing and the tube from Angharad and Capable’s hands, and beckons for Cheedo to come to him. She bites her lip, but goes quickly, feeling Dag’s hand squeeze hers before she releases it. He usually likes to do it in front of the other wives, but sometimes he does prefer privacy. This is obviously one of those times, because he motions to one of the closed-off rooms in the Vault, shoving the items in her hands and pushing her towards it. “Pretty yourself up,” he orders, before reaching out to caress Angharad’s belly. “Stay, Furiosa,” she can hear him add as she reaches the door, “I will speak with you after.” When Cheedo turns to shut the door, she looks up to see the woman’s eyes on her, staring. There’s a flicker of something on her face, she doesn’t know what, and then Cheedo shuts the door between them.

Cheedo the Fragile has never been outside the Citadel. She also has no idea what rouge is. The girl doesn’t even have a name for the tube she holds. She opens both containers anyways – her husband had told her to use them, and she will. Clearly, they are meant to go on her face, but it is pure guesswork as she dips her fingers in the pink-colored powder (rouge), and proceeds to spread it all over her face. It looks strange in the mirror, but she isn’t sure what else to try. Next, she pulls the top of the small tube-thing. The red thing inside is soft to the touch, but mostly holds its shape, for reasons she doesn’t understand. Cheedo is at a loss for what to do with it, and is still holding the thing cluelessly when Joe comes in.

The door slams shut and she scrambles to do _something_ with it, so she quickly lifts it to her face, smearing the stuff on both cheeks. Her hands tremble to put the cap back on the tube as he comes over to the bed, but finally she sets it aside as he sits down and tilts her face up to look at his. Then he laughs. His laugh is tinged with anger, and it seeps into her flesh, impacting her bones, and she feels tears prick the corner of her eyes.

“I-I’m sorry, Immortan,” she pleads with him fearfully, “I’ve never seen – I don’t know what it is, I’m sorry, I-I’m so stupid.”

“You _are_ a stupid child.”

“I-I’m your wife,” she replies in a soft voice, getting up on her knees. He backhands her across the face and she yelps, falling over onto the bed and curling up into herself.

“Wives do as they are told,” he replies, standing to tower over her. “You, I own,” he adds, loud enough for all to hear, and she finds herself nodding automatically in agreement.

“Yes, Immortan, I belong to you.” _We are not things._

“But you shall not have the title of wife,” he continues. “Not today. Now turn around, I can’t bear to look at you.” He mostly stops speaking after that, save to call her derogatory terms. She’s not allowed to look at him now, so she presses her head into the pillow to muffle her sobs. Being the Immortan’s wife had been her one goal, the only thing about her that made her worth anything, and now she’s too stupid, too useless and helpless and Fragile to be even that.

After, she wants to curl up on the bed and hide herself, but he drags her out to face the others. Capable has already put the stuff on her face, and she looks good, nothing like Cheedo does. She hides her own face in shame, though tears and smudging from the pillow has probably wiped most of it off of her. “Come Furiosa,” Joe orders, and Cheedo looks up to see that Splendid has moved over to stand near the stoic woman, evidently to talk. Furiosa moves her head up to look over at her, her expression unreadable, and the teen’s cheeks burn. She looks away to wipe the tears and some of the stuff off of her face, but by the time she looks back. Furiosa and Joe have gone.

Capable and Dag come to her then, while Toast goes to Angharad, who is staring at the closed Vault door as if it’s suddenly going to re-open. Cheedo is crying quietly, still, and Capable wipes the tears from her eyes as Dag wraps herself around the younger girl. “Here,” the redhead says softly as she wipes Cheedo’s face with a soft, wet cloth. She closes her eyes as the others come over, and opens them only to look straight into Angharad’s, which peer resolutely at her. “We are not things,” she enunciates, just loud enough for all five of them to hear, before turning away, and entering a private room. It makes her feel a little bit better, even if she’s shaking her head, and still not understanding it. The remaining wives sit her down then, and explain makeup.

By the next evening, she has greatly improved in the art of applying makeup, as she has spent all day practicing. Toast, on the other hand, has refused to put any on, and when Joe comes that night, Cheedo worries for her. Her concern increases when the Immortan is unexpectedly followed by Rictus, who has a giddy smile on his face. Cheedo wants to draw back but doesn’t, her bruise from last night reminding her to behave. Joe selects Toast, but on seeing her clear face, he pulls Capable with him too, moving to the side of the open space, and leaving Rictus alone with her, Dag, and Angharad. Rictus grins at her, and she draws back into the others.

“Da says I can have you for the night,” he exclaims excitedly at her, “says you’re too stupid to be his wife anymore.” He reaches for her, and the others step in front of her. He tosses Dag halfway across the room, big grin on his face, and reaches past Angharad to grasp Cheedo’s wrist and pull her to him. She cries out loudly, not for herself but for Dag, who has landed roughly several feet away. She’s not sure what she’s meant to do now. She belongs to Joe, not Rictus, and surely it would be an ultimate betrayal on her part to let Rictus touch her. Besides, only the Immortan has the key to their belts. But Joe is only feet away, and hasn’t done anything to stop it. Her brow furrows, and when Rictus reaches for her top, she pushes his hand away in her confusion. She must protect Immortan Joe’s property. _We are not things._ Rictus punches her, harder than she thinks he meant to, and she goes down easily. Dag has stood again, and lunges for her, but Angharad holds her back. Rictus’ hands fumble at her belt and he whines when it remains locked. She looks at Dag.

“Da,” he calls, whining again, and after a moment, she can feel the weight shift when the man makes room for his father, who unlocks the belt and pulls it off her, taking it with him, and then proceeding to take Toast and Capable out of the room, not sparing her a second glance. Rictus wastes no time. Her eyes don’t leave Dag’s as tears trickle down her cheeks. The man is big, but by his excited talk, and they way he is trying to engage her in conversation, he clearly does not realize how he’s hurting her. Cheedo looks at Dag. Finally it’s over, and Rictus leans down to kiss her, getting lipstick on himself. “Pretty,” he comments, before abruptly departing.

Joe doesn’t come back. Rather, Toast and Capable stumble back into the Vault, and the door shuts behind them. The women pile the mattresses and blankets together for the night. Cheedo inserts herself into Dag’s side, tracing the blonde’s new bruises with her small fingers until they are asleep.

When Joe comes back the next evening, it’s clear his anger has only increased, for when Rictus follows him, he bellows at his son, hitting him around the head and ordering him not to touch his treasures again. Rictus leaves, and Joe locks her back into the belt, securing it tightly around her. Then he appraises her. Despite his anger, he nods once at her. “Better, Fragile. I will honor you as my wife again. Do not disappoint me again.” There are tears on her cheeks, but Cheedo nods meekly, trembling. “Y-yes,” she replies softly, “thank you, Immortan.” The rest of the night is more difficult, but Cheedo doesn’t mind – she’s back to being what she is meant to be, serving her purpose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Hopefully the next chapter will be up fairly soon, if work and school allow for it. In the meantime, remember you can use the resources I posted below, if you need.  
> ______________________________________________
> 
>  
> 
> Power and Control Wheel Domestic Violence Resource: http://www.ncdsv.org/images/powercontrolwheelnoshading.pdf
> 
> http://www.thehotline.org/ -- 1-800-799-7233 | 1-800-787-3224 (TTY) (US National Hotline)
> 
> Find your local domestic violence agency/crisis center/shelter: https://www.domesticshelters.org/


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